And he's just about the only game in town with respect to Crenata seedlings, even seeds themselves are becoming very hard to find and average about buck a piece. Brent himself admits they may not be available for much longer, I would e-mail him NOW and find out whats going on with them.

I just ordered 6 F. Grandifolia seedlings last week (for my ever enlarging Beech forest) and noticed that several nurseries that stocked them last year have discontinued them, basically theres only one nursery left now who does them.

I heard from Brent at Evergreen garden works today and he's saying no Japanese Beech seedlings this year without a miracle. He thought he might get some seeds in and try for some seedlings by spring 2013.

Marty Weiser wrote:Sheffield's list that they have 0.99 lb in stock - about 2500 seeds. Should I corner the market?

Actually if your looking for saplings I just noticed Green Thumb bonsai has them for, get ready, $40 dollars a pop. I've got a tray of fern leaf beech seeds planted for spring, I should really think about doing some Crenata and sell them on Ebay, betcha there'd be a market for them.

1, they need to be grown from seed, they don't graft or root well from cuttings, not well enough for production nurseries anyway.

2, They're not very popular with people outside of the Bonsai community, hence most production nurseries would rather grow F. sylvatica, or purpurea and F. grandifolia because thats what sells. (even grandifolia is getting hard to find)

3. The seeds are rare(ish) and can be pricey. Also I've been told by a few bonsai nursery guys that these days most larger stock Crenata in the USA is imported, thats expensive. Not everyone is set up to do imports and quarantines and the like.

4. Basically as a commercial or bonsai seedling grower you must grow what sells, what they can turn around quickly and make a profit from. F. crenata is a slow grower and really only has a small market.

Thats just what my guess would be. Anyway the rarity does add something to the interest of the species at least for myself. but I'm a "Beech freak"

i totally agree with everything in jays post above, and would add that within the crenata genus there are several varieties and they vary hugely as bonsa isubjects.

My first crenata was uk sown seed and field grown as bonsai material - it was a crenata, but very average, the bark was dark, fairly rough to the touch, the growth was coarse, the leaves and buds huge.....I tried with it for a few years but traded it in this year. Then I had the opportunity to get an older Japanese import tree that had been originally supplied through one of the better nurseries and it certainly was a case of chalk and cheese.

When dry the bark is very pale and the fine twigs are a lovely purple (i've given the tree a winter LS spray for pests etc too, and that keeps the bark white wet or dry). All the buds are about 1cm long and the bark is smooth to the touch. I was told of the most perfect named japanese variety the other day too- with snow white natural bark that is completely smooth and pefect small deep green leaves.....and £10,000 for a little one !!

it is good they arent common - for one thing you can muck them up in the blink of an eye and all the leaves will be on the ends of long bare twigs, and if there were 100's everywhere they wouldnt be worth much either.

Another factor is that seed needs to be fresh to have a good germination rate. Older seed does not germinate well at all, the longer the seed has been hanging around, the less likely the seed is going to germinate.